1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a color printing apparatus, which can be applied to, e.g., a tape printing apparatus or a word processor, for color-printing a printed image of a character image, which is superposed on a background image and which comprises a character string of letters, symbols and the like (the character string being the arrangement of a plurality of characters and including the case of a single character).
2. Description of Conventional Art
In a tape printing apparatus for printing an inputted character string on a tape, in a case where the background of the character string is colored (a background color) or the character string itself is colored (a character color) to be printed, a user selects a desired color from various selectable background colors and character colors.
That is, the user must always set the background color and character color in order to carry out color print, so that the user""s operation load is great.
In a method for eliminating such inconvenience, there is a method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-48158. In this method, when a background color selecting screen is displayed during a print command, if any one of background color options is selected, a character color matched to the selected background color is automatically selected to print an image. The user has only to carry out the operation for selecting the background color.
However, in the above described conventional method, since the selection of the combination of the background color with the character color is carried out after the print command, the timing in designating the combination of the background color with the character color is restricted, so that there is a problem in that this is not so easy to handle. That is, if the user wish to print an image having any color scheme before the input of a character string, there is a problem in that it is not possible to designate the colors in that timing.
In addition, in the above described conventional method, there is a problem in that it is not possible to change one of the background color and character color designated by the combination, since the selection of the combination of the background color with the character color is carried out after the print command.
By the way, the color items capable of being optionally selected by the user are preferably various items without being limited to the background color and character color. For example, it is preferably possible to designate a ground tint color defining the color of a ground tint, a closing-line color and an intraframe color when a character string has a closing line, a character shadow color when a character has a shadow, an enclosing line color and an intra-enclosure color when a character has an enclosing line, and a half-tone dot meshing color when a character has a half-tone dot meshing.
In this case, according to the conventional method, it is considered that after a print command, a background color is selected to automatically set colors for all of other color items to print an image. However, also in this case, as described above, there is a problem in that it is not possible to change the color(s) for part of the color items designated by the combination of colors. This problem is serious since the determination of the color for each of the color items is finally put into user""s hands. In this case, a method for individually designating each of color items may be applied. However, this is not so easy to handle since the number of operations is very great.
Moreover, according to the conventional method, there is a problem in that a background color must be designated every print command even in a case where the same printed image is printed after time passes.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to eliminate the aforementioned problems and to provide a color printing apparatus capable of easily and rapidly setting the color for each of color items without lowering the degree of freedom of setting even if the number of selectable color items (edited items for color) is great.
In order to accomplish the aforementioned and other objects, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color printing apparatus for printing a printed image of a composite image comprising a color-printable background image and a color-printable character image superposed on the background image, the color printing apparatus comprising: color-set storing means previously having stored a plurality of sets of combinations of set values for a plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image; and automatic color-set setting means for allowing a user to select any one of the combinations of set values, and for storing the set values of the selected combination along with the printed image so that the stored set values are rewritable by separately setting the edited items relating to the color of the printed image.
In the color printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the automatic color-set setting means may show names, each of which identifies a corresponding one of a plurality of sets of combinations of set values for a plurality of edited items and each of which are associated with the corresponding one, to allow the user to select any one of the combinations.
The color printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention may further comprise color-set editing means for allowing the color-set storing means to newly store an additional combination of set values for the plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image or to delete any one of the plurality of sets of combinations of set values for the plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image.
As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the color printing apparatus comprises: color-set storing means previously having stored a plurality of sets of combinations of set values for a plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image; and automatic color-set setting means for allowing a user to select any one of the combinations of set values, and for storing the set values of the selected combination along with the printed image so that the stored set values are rewritable by separately setting the edited items relating to the color of the printed image. Therefore, it is possible to provide a color printing apparatus capable of easily and rapidly setting the color for each of edited items relating to color without lowering the degree of freedom of setting even if there are a large number of selectable edited items relating to color.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color printing apparatus for printing a printed image of a composite image comprising a color-printable background image and a color-printable character image superposed on the background image, the color printing apparatus comprising: form inputting means for allowing a user to form input a character string in accordance with a selected use; color-set storing means having stored a combination of set values for a plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image for the selected use, with respect to a plurality of uses relating to a form input; and automatic color-set setting means during a form input for storing the set values for a plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image for the selected use, along with the printed image so that the stored set values are rewritable by separately setting a part or all of the edited items relating to the color of the printed image.
In the printing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention may further comprise color-set editing means for allowing the color-set storing means to newly store an additional combination of set values for the plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image or to delete any one of the plurality of sets of combinations of set values for the plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image, during the form input.
As described above, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the color printing apparatus comprises: form inputting means for allowing a user to form input a character string in accordance with a selected use; color-set storing means having stored a combination of set values for a plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image for the selected use, with respect to a plurality of uses relating to a form input; and automatic color-set setting means during a form input for storing the set values for a plurality of edited items relating to the color of the printed image for the selected use, along with the printed image so that the stored set values are rewritable by separately setting a part or all of the edited items relating to the color of the printed image. Therefore, it is possible to provide a color printing apparatus capable of easily and rapidly setting the color for each of edited items relating to color without lowering the degree of freedom of setting even if there are a large number of selectable edited items relating to color.